Missionary Renegade: The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Saint Louis, Missouri, United States DAILY MEDITATION "Fruits That Grow in Vulnerability" for Monday, 4 January 2016

The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Saint Louis, Missouri, United States DAILY MEDITATION "Fruits That Grow in Vulnerability" for Monday, 4 January 2016

Photo courtesy of SDGcards.comThere is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.

For further reflection...
"Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me."[John 15: 4 (NRSV)]
What attracts you more: success or fruitfulness?
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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